Ayngaran have recently had some of thier DVD ditto copied and now they are looking for ways to stop this. They have now decided to place a logo of their company on the picture of the DVD films, although I don't agree with it they adamant that thier customers won't mind.

I have seen this on thier DVD of Unnikrishnan Hits Vol 1.



Edited By Shahran Sunny Audit on July 06 2002 at 11:46

Heard bout that too, but seriously sunny how bad can Indian DVD's go after the shit we guys have seen? It is really worth wasting my time mailing companies who are thinking out ways to make thier product suck more!

In the words of Mr Smith;

"lost causes are worth fighting for"



Edited By Shahran Sunny Audit on July 06 2002 at 11:45

Hi sunny

I knew the Ayngaran guys in Singapore and they are not exactly the most professional people. Getting them to switch to DTS for their Broadway theater took them 5 years.

Anyway, I hope they listen because having that logo on screen all the time will be very distracting

logo -> no sale to me. Very simple.
What's the idea anyway? Why should a logo stop any
pirates? If people accept it they will do so from a pirate
or Ayngaran? To make it obvious to people it's a pirate?
People don't care anyway. To have prove for police and
court action? The law is not enforced anyway with or
without logo and that kind of proof is not necessary
in the first place.
I fail to see how this fights piracy. It only screws up
the picture and drives off quality aware customers.
Bohot stupid idea.
Michel

Bohot hee stupid idea indeed, I also fail to see how this combats piracy on any level. I gave up on trying to understand these dopy people in the industry, the way they justify things is just ridiculous. I have on my desk ditto copies of Tumko Ka Bhool Paayenge and Kitne Door Kitne Paas with all the original logos etc putting the logos on the actual film is NOT going to stop any of these pirates from making copies of any discs. I’ve had some people say to me that Ayngaran DVDs are usually used by different (legit) companies in the USA for releasing the same film under a different label – if these companies are ripping the video/audio to construct their own DVD then possibly placing a logo on the Ayngaran DVD could stop this – but I doubt it. You simply cannot place a logo on the entire film without it being intrusive or useful to anybody.

Instead of doing the right thing, do even more wrong, which seems to be the case here. The right thing would be get your DVDs protected; technically and by legally authorities – but oh no that’s too much effort and hard work, it’s easier placing a logo on the entire film :rolleyes: Sadly like most other things it’s the clueless muppets on top who are in charge making the stupid decisions. From what you have said Sunny I think Ayngaran will place the logo any how regardless of what people say – piracy will their officially justification but they’ll have other motives (eccentric school kid ego heads that like their name plastered everywhere ). I hardly get any Ayngaran DVD anyway – but this will completely stop my interest in their DVDs.

Ali

I can't believe that the Macrovision they put on the discs isn't fighting piracy, har, har, har.

I wrote an email saying that if Ayngaran put logos on their DVDs, I would think twice before buying one of their titles. One of the reasons Indian VHS sucked is the logos, phone numbers, and ads at the bottom of the screen. I don't want to see that ported over to DVD. If this was WEG we were talking about, I wouldn't care since nobody buys their DVDs anyways.

Wrot the following to them:

Dear Ayngaran Staff,
i just read about your decision of putting a logo within the picture of your future DVD Films and have to take a stand oposing this decision.
Please ignore wrong spelling and grammar for i am not a native english speaking person.

I have to state that i have been quite a satisfied customer so far.

I own 17 of Your DVD's (actually i bought 20, since i have a friend who prompted me to get those titles for him as well) and have been led to believe Yours is one of two companys, in the Indian DVD market, actually caring for its product .
Aside from the late DEI Dvd's the Ayngaran produced ones were the only ones i would accept as genuine originals only.
A local Tamil shop in Berlin orders them for me and has twice received well made copies () but immediatly exchanged them without any problem.
If you decide to compromise picture quality by putting a logo inside the picture i will search for pirate products of the films in your catalogue in the future, as i do with EROS produced DVD's, for their disregard of their customers and lack of quality.

I have a custom build computer with progressive vga video connection to a Panasonic PT-AE100E 16:9 Videoprojector and i do mind a Logo, wich would be some 30 centimeters on my screen, wandering around in the frame.

The copys of Your product i have seen so far have tried to emulate the original look as far as possible, why should they mind making copys with Your logo inside?

Before, You tried to set Yourself apart with the packaging of the product (Poovellam Un Vaasam) wich was a good idea. Most people don't know that a Digipack is more expensive than the usual Amaray plastic boxes. It was the execution of the package that was lacking though.
The tray was to small for the cardboard cover and instead of tesa tape it should have been mounted with good bookbinder glue, i did that and its very robust and your most beautiful cover yet.
Most pirates can't afford such kind of packaging, nor the creative people who design those, so, if You wan't to set Yourself apart from pirated versions Package them innovatively.
Cardboard Packages offer all the possibillitys off printing technology to set Yourself apart (special metall colours, folding, stamping, cutouts, different sizes, integrated booklets, etc.), combined with a stable professionally inserted tray it is almost impossible to recreate that and still make a profit with a pirated product.
Look at the HongKong VCD Market, the companys are going exactly that way to set themself apart from the cheap bootlegs sold at every corner.
A logo within the film will just be copied as well.
I know You might not care if i buy your product or not, but i have so far been a loyal customer representing a market you still have to conquer, i am not an NRI but a foreigner looking for high class entertainment from all over the world and the cheapest product has never been of interest to me if there is one with better quality available.

Actually i was hoping that You would switch to anamorphic transfers to better Your product in the future instead of degenerating overall quality by destroying frame composition with dreadful Logos.

I hope You will reconsider, yours sincerly,
Thomas Sattler

The Disks i have bought so far are

Mani Rathnams:
- Alaipayuthey
- Bombay (although i already had the Dei/Eros Version - just for the correct framing)
- Kannathil Muthamittal (bought twice)

and futher the titles

- Aalavandhan (bought twice)
- Citizen
- Dhill
- Indian
- Little John
- Minsara Kanavu
- Snegithiye
- Thenali
- Vedham
- Deena
- Kannukul Nilavue
- Nandha (bought twice)
- 12 B
- Poovellam Un Vaasam

already ordered are

- Pammal K. Sambandam
- Anbe Va
any future Mani Rathnam release and the recent Kamal Hassan Film would have been a must as well, but not with a Logo in the actual Film. I will go for a Bootleg then or just rent it and rip it.

It seems another DVD Company goes down the drain first DEI now Ayngaran the only hope left, is more financial interest of the big american Companies like Columbia.
It's sad those stupid people never learn but are in positions to make decisions.

Hi sunny,
by the way are those R2 Pal Disks from Singapore with the films Indian and Uyirae still available?
They were reviewed very favourable on spaceports and it would be interesting to get those.
The company was called Kavita Digital or something like that.
If they are still around where can i get them?
Thanx

First off have some wonderful news, Ayngaran have recieved the many e-mails and have deicided to withdraw the massive logo. Victory is indeed ours. However they have already mastered 5-8 DVD titles with the logo and cannot withdraw them as they are due for release. They have e-mailed Prasad to cease the use of the logo.

I have also offered serveral ideas to them to curb piracy, some good but costly ideas like getting registered to FACT which means automatic raids with Police and stuff like that.

Kavitha Digital have cease prodcution as they was taken to court and sued to copyright infrigment in singapore. Only now can get Ayngaran version of the titles who have taken over the DVD rights - lets hope a special edition is in the works

Any mention of plans on using progressive sources?

That probably makes Ayngaran the only DVD company to actually listen to consumer input. We can send all the emails we want to Video Sound and Eros, but they still won't make product worth buying. And what is FACT?

Putting the company logo throughout the film is absolutely no deterrent for piraters or counterfieters. Specially in the case of pirated DVDs which are just copies of the original, the logo is present on them too. In fact the truth is that putting a logo only helps piracy more since it encourages people to buy the pirated product which probably will not have the obtrusive and simply unacceptable logo.

THE BEST WAY TO FIGHT PIRACY IS TO MAKE YOUR PRODUCT BY FAR SUPERIOR TO ANYTHING THAT THE PIRATERS CAN ACHIEVE.

If only Indian DVD companies were to realize this simple but true fact. When the difference between the original and pirated product is minimal (in some cases the pirated actually being better than the original), there is absolutely no incentive for the customer to buy the substantially more expensive original. But if the the difference was substantial then the vast majority of customers may be persuaded to not only buy, but also demand only the original.

I think all those who wrote to Ayngaran showing their displeasure against the Logo policy should now back up their support to the company by not only buying their products but also by writing to them again and thanking them for listening to the consumer.

Although I do think superior dvds will cause some decline in pirated dvds but on the whole our Indian audience will still choose the pirated version. Look what happened to DEi but Eros is still up there strong and powerful.

That probably makes Ayngaran the only DVD company to actually listen to consumer input. We can send all the emails we want to Video Sound and Eros, but they still won't make product worth buying. And what is FACT?[/quote]
FACT is an organisation which fights piracy in the UK on your behalf but to join them costs a heavy £20,000 and also you have to be 100% legit in tax and product services.

Naturally companies like EROS and Video-Sound couldn't join fact due to thier adverse background in certain activities....

Only Indian company to do this is Yash Raj, and now hopefully it will be Ayngaran.